Family Happenings

My three boys:  Reed, Gerald and Benjamin

Slowly but surely we change with time.  Layne got used to seeing doctors when he was flying.  The company required two exams each year.  But since retirement his health sentiment has become, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."  So you may understand how difficult it was for me to arrange for him to see a skin doctor.  He had some spots on his face that were not healing.  I wanted them checked. He didn't.  So I made an appointment for him and just informed him that he was going!  He consented.  But I went with him to make sure the doc checked all the spots I had in mind.  He returned from that experience with burn spots all over his face.  You may imagine how impressed he was with that.  "I'll never go back there," he told me.  I was afraid that he would be quite a sight, covered with red burns, for the duration of the week.  But from the start his magical skin made little of it.  He looked good from the first day.

Frances and Gerald

Elaine's dog, Lili, sitting between my legs.
Elaine says she likes me!

Gerald and his family spent a day with us on their way back home. Gerald is such a good talker. I love that about him. The family locals came over and spent time with us and Ger and family on their last night is the USA. So our house was filled with family and fun once again. We are so lucky to have most of the family close by. Ger and Fran let on Thursday morning. We had a lovely dinner with our neighbors on Thursday night and then I headed to Colorado, where I'm staying with my friend, Elaine Conlon. We are in the thick of girl stuff and watch "chick flicks" each night. I've decided that being away from Layne once in awhile is
a good thing. I realize how much I love him and how valuable he is to me in a dramatic way when I'm away from him. How can that be bad?

Salt Lake

Layne's twin brother, Lynn, his wife Camille
and their son Curtis and family (behind)

I don't like traveling much.  Home has, hands down, the biggest call to me.  But this past week we were off to Salt Lake, to visit with Layne's twin brother, Lynn, and our son Gerald and his family.  Gerald belongs to a benevolent and wealthy Chinese family, via his wife, Frances.  Her father heads an extended family that works together and shares the family monies much like our Church United Order concept.  Because of that, Gerald and Frances live in a beautiful home in Taiwan, owned by the Family.  Hence, their home costs are very minimal.  The Family fund also bought two homes in Draper, Utah.  Ger and Fran have furnished one of them and they stay there when they come to the States with their English students for their month-long tour each summer.

So, after that long explanation, it makes a bit more sense to say that Layne and I determined to spend some quality time with Ger and Fran, so we flew to Salt Lake last week to see them.  Our standby efforts paid off both ways, as we made the flights into and out of Salt Lake just as we planned.  Upon our arrival, all of us headed to Kaysville to visit Layne's brother.  The Galbraith boys claim to be very close and I suppose, in a Galbraithy kind of way, that might be true.  But we see and talk to Lynn and his wife Camille, maybe, once a year.  That would not fit my definition of "close."  I wish it were more as I love spending time with them.  But for some reason, over the years, we haven't been together very much.  So it was a treat to spend a few hours with them last week.  Lynn and Layne are twins, but quite different in temperament and appearance.  We had fun talking and laughing together.

Grandson Seth 

Granddaughter Angelica

Gerald and Fran's home in Salt Lake is almost new, but he had several home projects that he wanted to accomplish. So the rest of our time in Salt Lake was spent working on his projects.  Actually, I love having a job to do.  Working on something that makes a noticeable difference in things is very rewarding.  So it was fun to see progress on the house and the light that filled Ger and Fran as each thing was accomplished.  It was quite bonding, and I'm very keen on that sort of thing.

We came home on Friday and things moved along like they always do.  Saturday was our Stake Conference at Church.  The stake president, President Cooper, asked to speak with us after the meeting (which we missed to attend a neighbor's party).  The outcome of that meeting was life-changing.  Layne has been called to be the new Stake Patriarch!  For a month he has been fearful of being considered for this.  As he responded to the request, his face flushed and his eyes filled with tears.  I believe I understand his fear.  He now must cultivate a spiritual condition that is worthy of hearing the voice of the Lord, by a schedule.  He will be fully dependent upon inspiration to function.  That's pressure!  Not only that, but this is a lifetime calling!

The new Patriarch

Nephew Bryan, who visited us on Sunday,
just in time to learn of Layne's new calling.

Since then we have thought of little else.  What can we do to make our home more receptive to the Spirit of God?  How can we create a more spiritual character?  It is a team calling the Stake President said.  So there will be a function for me to play.  I wonder how this will impact our lives.  Having this assignment does answer a couple of questions that have been on my mind.  We won't be selling our home anytime soon.  We won't be going on another mission any time soon either.  We are here for the foreseeable future.  There is some peace in having that settled.  And, as we move forward, I will say that I have every faith that the Lord will take care of us and direct our path.  This ultimately will be for our good.  It's the details we have to work out.  So now begins our leap into a new spiritual adventure.

Home Activities

Son Ben's girls, Alexis and Jacqueline

I am a free spirit by nature.  Being of this nature, I relish open time.  Time that I am free to do anything with!  I was investing in such thoughts when son Ben called to see if I'd babysit some of his babes while he and Jes went out of town.  Of course I said I would.  So the three oldest kids came on a Wednesday and stayed until the following Sunday evening, when our family time climaxed in an extended get-together to celebrate Cliff's birthday.  It turned out to be a lot of fun, as being with the kids is.  I felt tired at the beginning of my time with the little kids, but got into it.  I'm always pleasantly surprised by my adaptability.  I think we can do and enjoy more than we think.  Often I find myself entering into some activity I don't feel up to, only to find that I have it in me!  It's a happy surprise each time.  I love those kids!

This past while has been full of activity but not much of what I planned on.  It seems like life is mostly like that.  I have array of projects that I hope to accomplish only to find myself leaving those to the very last.  So I rarely get to them.  I need to change that by being a bit more disciplined.  I'm a wild woman with open time; it goes to my head as I fill much too much of it with hopes and plans rather than action.

Balloons at Carmen's grave

Layne and I worked in the temple twice last week.  It was one of those things I didn't want to do but did.  I had so much fun!  It is a joy to  have a place where I feel embraced by the place itself as well as the people that work there.  There seem to be a number of things that I don't look forward to but should.  I wonder how to go about acquiring a happier anticipation of such things.

 Our granddaughter Carmen would have been 11 this year, on August 10th.  We celebrated her life by meeting up with her family at her grave in Antioch.  We talked about our memories of her, put flowers on her grave, prayed for her and released ballons.  I love having a set-apart time to devote to her memory.  As the time passes, it is easy to not think of her as often.  There are now small members of our family that don't know her.  I feel the need to keep her memory ever before us.  I'm glad for these times of remembering.

One of my walking views

I am resolved to exercise regularly.  Again.  This time I determined to use Rayne's newly acquired tread mill.  It's located downstairs in the "dungeon", our room without windows, where the kids often go to play video games.  I was explaining my plan to daughter-in-law Dorothy when she said, "you have 6 acres; why don't you walk around your yard?"  That was a rather obvious suggestion, I thought.  So, taking her advice, I've been walking around our wild and hilly property each morning.  Why do I forget how nurturing it is to be outside, among other living things?  I love those walks.  They take me up hills and down, through the orchard for a peachy snack and through the garden for the latest ripe and ready vegie.  Often the cats follow me and keep me company.  I love it!  Oh, and I'm feeling stronger too.